SpaceX

[realbiz]

https://www.facebook.com/stem.network/photos/pcb.964283106943903/964282563610624/?type=1&theater Cockpit of the Dragon V2

[realbiz]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1086203808091471&set=pcb.10153672543391318&type=1&theater Close Up of LED display

[realbiz]

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/nasas-first-manned-flight-orion-spacecraft-could-slip-2013-n428571 Sad news but may be a plus for SpaceX

[realbiz]

Tour of SpaceX given by Elon Musk

[realbiz]

Next Giant step for SpaceX Falcon heavy anim.

[realbiz]

BILL NYE the science guy explains his view of SPACE X

[realbiz]

Pad abort test footage here Liftoff@ @ 16.00 time

[realbiz]

Dragon V 2 press release here

[realbiz]

A mission that uses SpaceX's Dragon capsule to help bring chunks of Mars rock back to Earth for analysis could launch as early as 2022, researchers say.

This "Red Dragon" project — which remains a concept at the moment, not an approved mission — would grab samples collected by NASA's 2020 Mars rover and send them rocketing back toward Earth, where researchers could scrutinize the material for possible signs of past Red Planet life.

The sample-return effort would keep costs and complexity down by using SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket and a modified version of the company's robotic Dragon cargo capsule, the concept's developers say. [Images: 'Red Dragon' Sample-Return Concept]

Red Dragon is "technically feasible with the use of these emerging commercial technologies, coupled with technologies that already exist," Andy Gonzales, of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, said Wednesday (Sept. 9) during a presentation with the space agency's Future In-Space Operations (FISO) working group.

The Red Dragon team has developed the concept independently, without any involvement or endorsement by SpaceX, Gonzales said.

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed
Life on Mars Begins on Earth Underwater 1:44
Mars is a cold and dry place today, but evidence gathered by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity and other spacecraft suggests that the planet was warmer and wetter, with lots of surface water, billions of years ago. Many scientists therefore believe life may have evolved on ancient Mars.

Searching for signs of past Mars life is a tricky and involved process, so the best and most conclusive results would probably be obtained by trained personnel working in the well-equipped labs of Earth, rather than by a robotic rover or lander operating millions of miles from its handlers, astrobiologists say.

Indeed, the U.S. National Research Council regarded Mars sample-return as the highest-priority big-budget future NASA mission in its 2013 Decadal Survey for planetary science.

NASA aims to grab and cache samples from a potentially habitable environment with its next Mars rover, which is scheduled to blast off in 2020. But the space agency does not yet have a firm plan or timeline for bringing this material back to Earth. [The Search for Life on Mars: A Photo Timeline]

That's where Red Dragon could come in, Gonzales and his team say.

The researchers have drawn up a plan that uses a modified version of SpaceX's uncrewed Dragon cargo capsule, which has already flown six resupply missions to the International Space Station for NASA. The Red Dragon variant would include a robotic arm, extra fuel tanks and a central tube that houses a rocket-powered Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) and an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV).

Image: Outline of “Red Dragon” Mars sample-return concept
The basic outline of the “Red Dragon” Mars sample-return concept, which would use SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule and Falcon Heavy booster. NASA Ames Research Center/Red Dragon Internal Study Team
Red Dragon would launch toward Mars atop SpaceX's huge Falcon Heavy rocket, which is scheduled to fly for the first time next year. After a long deep-space journey, the capsule would touch down near the 2020 Mars rover (whose landing site has not yet been chosen).

"Red Dragon can go anywhere the rover can go, as far as landing elevation and terrain," Gonzales said. "We're confident we could land in front of the rover and have it drive to us."

Related: Mock Mars Mission Tests Mental Toll of a Year in Space

Red Dragon's robotic arm would then grab a sample from the rover's onboard cache (assuming the 2020 rover does indeed carry its samples, rather than stash them someplace) and transfer it to a secure containment vessel aboard the ERV, which sits atop the MAV. If something goes wrong during this exchange, Red Dragon can simply scoop up some material from the ground using its arm.

The MAV would then blast off from the center of the capsule, like a missile from a silo, sending the ERV on its way back to Earth. The ERV would settle into orbit around our planet; its sample capsule would then be transferred to, and brought down to Earth by, a separate spacecraft — perhaps another Dragon capsule.

Related: Mars Mini-Mission: NASA Reveals Plans for First Interplanetary CubeSats

The ERV, meanwhile, would be placed in a sun-circling orbit so it could not contaminate Earth or the moon with stray Mars material.

So how much would all of this cost? It's unclear at the moment, because the team has not yet drawn up any cost estimates. But Gonzales said he's hopeful that the Red Dragon concept would be considerably cheaper than the Mars sample-return effort envisioned by the 2013 Decadal Survey, which would likely cost around $6 billion.

This is a condensed version of a report from Space.com. Read the full report. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+.

[realbiz]

SpaceX on Monday announced wins of two contracts to launch Spanish and Saudi communications satellites from Cape Canaveral in 2017 and 2018.

A satellite for Hispasat will launch on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, launched from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Saudi Arabia's Arabsat 6A will launch on a Falcon Heavy rocket, which is expected to fly from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

"We are pleased to add these additional launches to our manifest," SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said in a press release. "The diversity of our missions and customers represents a strong endorsement of our capabilities and reflects SpaceX’s efforts to provide a breadth of launch services to our growing customer base."

SpaceX announced the contracts at the World Satellite Business Conference in Paris, France, saying it now has more than 60 launches worth more than $7 billion under contract.

The company is now recovering from its first Falcon 9 launch failure in 18 missions. A faulty strut so far has been identified as the most likely cause of an upper-stage liquid oxygen tank rupture that resulted in a rocket breaking apart more than two minutes after a June 28 liftoff from Cape Canaveral with a Dragon cargo capsule.

The company-led investigation continues and no launch date has been set yet for the Falcon's return to flight.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or [e-mail]. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at facebook.com/jamesdeanspace

[wickw50]

By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - NASA has selected four veteran astronauts to lead the way back into orbit from U.S. soil.

On Thursday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden named the four who will fly on capsules built by private companies - SpaceX and Boeing. Each astronaut has test pilot experience and has flown twice in space.

The commercial crew astronauts are: Air Force Col. Robert Behnken, until recently head of the astronaut office; Air Force Col. Eric Boe, part of shuttle Discovery's last crew; retired Marine Col. Douglas Hurley, pilot of the final shuttle crew; and Navy Capt. Sunita Williams, a two-time resident of the International Space Station.

"These distinguished, veteran astronauts are blazing a new trail, a trail that will one day land them in the history books and Americans on the surface of Mars," Bolden said on his blog.

SpaceX and Boeing are aiming for test flights to the space station by 2017. It will be the first launch of astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida, since the space shuttles retired in 2011.

In the meantime, NASA has been paying Russia tens of millions of dollars per ride on Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronauts; the latest tab is $76 million.

Bolden noted that the average cost on an American-owned spacecraft will be $58 million per astronaut, and each mission will carry a crew of four versus three, in addition to science experiments.

The four - who will work closely with the companies to develop their spacecraft - range in age from 44 to 50, and have been astronauts for at least 15 years. Each attended test pilot school; Williams specializes in helicopters.

NASA said the four were chosen for their spaceflight experience. They have a combined total of more than 400 days in space, thanks largely to Williams' two station stints, and more than 85 hours of spacewalking time. Williams - the world record-holder for most spacewalking time by a woman - most recently lived on the orbiting lab in 2012.

NASA's contracts with SpaceX and Boeing for crew capsules - totaling nearly $7 billion - require at least one test flight with at least one NASA astronaut on board.

Bolden -himself a former space shuttle commander - noted that July has always been a big month for NASA.

The first manned moon landing, by Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, occurred on July 20, 1969. NASA got its first close-up pictures of Mars, thanks to Mariner 4, on July 14, 1965, and the robotic Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4, 1997.

And on Tuesday - the 50th anniversary of Mariner 4's flyby - the New Horizons spacecraft will sweep past Pluto on the first-ever close flyby of the dwarf planet.

John Holdren, director of the White House office of science and technology policy, said Tuesday's commercial crew selection will move America closer to President Barack Obama's goal of sending astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.

NASA already is hiring out supply runs to the space station and wants to do the same with crew transport, so it can focus on getting astronauts out of low-Earth orbit and on to Mars and other destinations. NASA is developing its own new spacecraft, the Orion, for those longer journeys.

The announcement comes just 1½ weeks after SpaceX's failed launch to the space station with cargo. The Dragon capsule lost atop the Falcon 9 rocket that broke up shortly after liftoff on June 28 is a smaller, simpler version of what will be used to carry astronauts to the space station. NASA's other commercial shipper, Orbital Sciences Corp., also is grounded because of a failed launch dating back to last fall.

Boeing's yet-to-fly craft is called the CST-100 for Crew Space Transportation and 100 kilometers, the threshold of space. A real name is forthcoming, according to Boeing officials.

___

Online:

NASA: http://tinyurl.com/o9pwa3q

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[markp1950]

I just put it into the "It happens" category.
It was their 24th launch.
Next launch to the ISS is supposed to be with an updated rocket.
I wonder if the Jason 3 launch will be a "GO"
http://spacexstats.com/mission.php?launch=25

[Chiinkwia1]

That's NASA speak for anything that blows up a rocket. Over tye years here have seen many anomolies. Worst one, of course, was the Columbia explosion. Happen to be in a planr on my way to Atlanta. Can never forget that one. Got to ATL and it was like a tomb there. No normal noise, everybody trying to find a TV in the resturants and bars. Was really depressing.

Will probably take a week or so to ID the problem, and no doubt that they will. Personally I think it was a seperation failure that set off a chain of events. We will see. They will find it.

[markp1950]

On the webcast they called it an anomaly!
Elon Musk ?@elonmusk 10h10 hours ago
Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown. Will provide more info as soon as we review the data.
-----------------------
Elon Musk ?@elonmusk 9h9 hours ago
That's all we can say with confidence right now. Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis.
-----------------------
Elon Musk ?@elonmusk 9h9 hours ago
There was an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank. Data suggests counterintuitive cause.

That's all we can say with confidence right now. Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 28, 2015

[Chiinkwia1]

What a pain. Watched the launch today from frount porch. Kinda wish I hadn't as I knew at once it had blown. From what I could see it looked like something in the seperation process. But that's just a guess. Will know before long I'm sure.

[Priestyle]

SpaceX has recently been in the news for launching thousands of new satellites in the lower orbit for the purpose of better coverage, internet speed and connectivity. The company has not received any approval from the Federal yet. But, forecasts are suggesting that it may IPO in the near future for financing this project.

[backtrax]

Still here.

[wickw50]

Posted: Tuesday, September 16, 2014 6:01 pm
Associated Press |
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA is a giant step closer to launching Americans again from U.S. soil.
On Tuesday, the space agency picked Boeing and SpaceX to transport astronauts to the International Space Station in the next few years.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden named the winners of the competition at Kennedy Space Center, near where the launches should occur in a few years. The wall behind him was emblazoned with the words “Launch America” and “Commercial crew transportation/The mission is in sight.”
“I want you to look behind me,” Bolden said, pointing both thumbs to the big, bright logos. “I’m giddy today, I will admit.”
The deal will end NASA’s expensive reliance on Russia to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. NASA has set a goal of 2017 for the first launch from Cape Canaveral, but stressed it will not sacrifice safety to meet that date.
NASA ended up going with a blend of old and new space: big traditional Boeing, which helped build the space station and prepped the space shuttles, and smaller, scrappier upstart SpaceX. Just 12 years old, the California-based SpaceX already is delivering supplies to the space station — its crew capsule is a version of its cargo carrier.
The contract likely will mean more testing at SpaceX’s McGregor development facility, for both the new Dragon’s SuperDraco thrusters and the Merlin engines powering the Falcon rockets that will carry the Dragon into orbit.
NASA will pay Boeing $4.2 billion and SpaceX $2.6 billion to certify, test and fly their crew capsules. The two contracts call for at least two and as many as six missions for a crew of four as well as supplies and scientific experiments, said NASA’s Kathy Lueders, commercial crew program manager. The spacecraft will double as emergency lifeboats at the orbiting outpost.
SpaceX billionaire founder and chief executive, Elon Musk, was elated by Tuesday’s news, as were Boeing’s top managers.
“Deeply honored and appreciative of the trust that NASA has placed in SpaceX for the future of human spaceflight,” Musk said in a tweet.
Boeing’s John Elbon, vice president and general manager of space exploration, said, “Boeing has been part of every American human space flight program, and we’re honored that NASA has chosen us to continue that legacy.”
The third major contender, Sierra Nevada Corp., had the most novel entry, a minishuttle named Dream Chaser that it was developing in Colorado.
NASA officials declined to elaborate on the decision and why Sierra Nevada lost out. In a statement, Sierra Nevada said it would wait to hear NASA’s rationale before commenting further on the options for its spacecraft. While disappointed that it wasn’t selected, the company said it “commends NASA for initiating the effort.”
U.S. astronauts have been riding Russian rockets ever since NASA’s space shuttles retired in 2011. The latest price tag is $71 million per seat; NASA puts at least four of its astronauts on a Russian Soyuz every year. SpaceX has indicated its seats will cost $20 million apiece.
“From day one, the Obama administration has made it very clear that the greatest nation on Earth should not be dependent on any other nation to get into space,” Bolden said.
The commercial crew program follows the successful cargo delivery effort underway for the past two years, also under NASA contract. The objective, for years, has been for NASA to hand space station flights to private companies and focus on getting astronauts into true outer space, with destinations such as asteroids and Mars.

[realbiz]

I am still here and always interested //I am watching and waiting for more peops to wake up and realize that space must be Our next great expansion ... This place is getting awfully crowded and at a faster rate than I ever expected /// Keep in touch Friend

[Entangled Proton]

Thanks for posting that. I wish we had more people interested in these kind of things.

[wickw50]

New V2 engine unveiled...
http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

[wickw50]

SpaceX Dragon returns to Earth with cargo

Posted: Monday, May 19, 2014 12:01 am
Associated Press |
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The commercial cargo ship Dragon returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Sunday, bringing back nearly 2 tons of science experiments and old equipment for NASA.
SpaceX’s Dragon splashed into the Pacific, just five hours after leaving the orbiting lab.
“Welcome home, Dragon!” the California-based company said via Twitter.
After a one-month visit, the SpaceX cargo ship was set loose Sunday morning.
Astronaut Steven Swanson, the station commander, released it using the big robot arm as the craft zoomed more than 260 miles above the South Pacific.
“Very nice to have a vehicle that can take your science, equipment and maybe someday even humans back to Earth,” Swanson told Mission Control.
The SpaceX Dragon is the only supply ship capable of returning items to Earth. The others burn up on re-entry. This was the fourth Dragon to bring back space station goods, with 3,500 pounds aboard; it came down off Mexico’s Baja California coast.
NASA is paying SpaceX and Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. to make station deliveries. Orbital is next up, next month. Russia, Europe and Japan also make occasional shipments.
SpaceX, which has a rocket-engine testing facility in McGregor, also is competing for the right to ferry station astronauts, perhaps as early as 2017.
The Dragon rocketed to the space station on April 18 with a full load and arrived at the orbiting lab two days later.

[wickw50]

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/spacex-ceo-hints-texas-is-choice-for-launch-site/article_6e6f0bc5-d1c1-5768-b9aa-1615ced47632.html

[backtrax]

Vid of reusable Space-X rocket. A brief 'Take-off and Landing'.

http://weather.aol.com/2014/04/23/watch-spacex-video-captures-amazing-reusable-rocket-test-launch/

[XYREUS]

Spacex wont be an ipo anytime soon...5-10 yrs??

[backtrax]

Yep. A cash-infusion would help matters, say the costs 'Air Force One' has racked-up in the last year, at a half-billon dollars so far.
Launch and tracking infrastructure is falling-apart.

[realbiz]

It sure seems like forever when these delays happen ...I can not wait

[backtrax]

Launch Delay continues, Radar tracking disabled by eletrical-short. Launches expected to resume mid-April.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1403/30range/

[wickw50]

SpaceX postpones launch to ISS
SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship is placed at the head of a Falcon 9 rocket in the company's hangar at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

http://www.wacotrib.com/blogs/joe_science/spacex-postpones-launch-to-iss/article_0564ea20-aaf6-11e3-a269-001a4bcf887a.html

Posted: Thursday, March 13, 2014 4:25 pm
By JOSEPH ABBOTT [e-mail]
SpaceX announced Thursday that Sunday morning's planned cargo launch to the International Space Station has been postponed to no earlier than March 30.
From company spokeswoman Emily Shanklin:
To ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance and allow additional time to resolve remaining open items, SpaceX is now targeting March 30th for the CRS-3 launch, with April 2nd as a back-up. These represent the earliest available launch opportunities given existing schedules, and are currently pending approval with the Range.

Both Falcon 9 and Dragon are in good health; given the critical payloads on board and significant upgrades to Dragon, the additional time will ensure SpaceX does everything possible on the ground to prepare for a successful launch.
The Eastern Range, with which approval is pending, is the U.S. Air Force network of support systems for Cape Canaveral launches.
One thing this means is that the Dragon should now be arriving to a full house, with three replacement ISS crew members set to launch March 25 to join the three already on the station.
UPDATE, 9 PM: Bill Harwood at CBS News/SpaceflightNow reports that SpaceX personnel found unspecified contaminants in the Dragon's unpressurized "trunk" (the straight cylindrical bit underneath the "gumdrop" main section in the photo above) and sought extra time to evaluate and fix the problem.
(Note that the photo above, of Dragon being mated to the Falcon 9 second stage, was released by SpaceX before the postponement was announced; it would be a reasonable guess that the contamination was noticed during this process.)

[wickw50]

Louder-than-usual SpaceX test still planned; ISS launch pushed to early 2014

Posted: Thursday, August 15, 2013 9:56 pm | Updated: 10:50 pm, Thu Aug 15, 2013.
By JOSEPH ABBOTT [e-mail]
I haven't heard from SpaceX lately about the louder-than-usual test I got emailed about last week (my usual media contact is out of the country this week), but this did appear on the Twitter feed of the Waco/McLennan County Office of Emergency Management this evening:

So there's that. Meanwhile the space news website NASASpaceflight.com reports that SpaceX's next Dragon cargo flight to the International Space Station has been postponed from this December to next January, a move confirmed on the Goddard Space Center mission database.
Josh Byerly, a spokesman for NASA's ISS program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, couldn't confirm the shift but did note — as the NASASpaceflight report says — that the December date had actually been either-or, with both SpaceX and rival Orbital Sciences penciled in for cargo launches to the ISS although only one would be able to take the open slot on the station.
That call's now apparently been made, with Orbital's Cygnus cargo ship set to launch in the Dec. 11, 2013-Jan. 10, 2014, window from Wallops Island, Va., and Dragon set to launch in the Jan. 17-Feb. 16, 2014, window from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The NASASpaceflight report also says that NASA plans to take advantage of the extra launch-weight capacity offered by the upgraded Falcon 9-R, with January's launch set to take considerably more cargo up to the station than the last launch back in March aboard the previous-generation Falcon 9.
It should also be noted that this launch schedule might change depending on how Orbital's demonstration flight to the station, set for Sept. 15 from Wallops Island, goes.

[wickw50]

MONDAY 29TH APRIL 2013
Virgin Galactic sells tickets for first space flight



If the weather is right, Virgin Galactic today will fire up SpaceShipTwo and blast the six-passenger commercial spaceplane on a flight that will break the sound barrier.


If today's test, and a few more along the way, go well, the maiden voyage into space should take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico in the first quarter of 2014.


Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson said he will be on it, briefly floating weightless and looking down at Planet Earth.


Tickets for future flights into space already are on sale, at $200,000 a seat, and more than 500 have been sold.


Today "will be a historic day," Branson promised in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun. He was in Vegas kicking off Virgin America's new service to that city.


SpaceShipTwo's predecessor, SpaceShipOne, soared 100 kilometers (62 miles) in 2004 to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize for private-sector spaceflight. It is now in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.


The Virgin Galactic spaceline fleet will operate five spaceplanes.


In addition to private passengers, the planes could carry scientific payloads for NASA and other organizations.


By Cheryl Rosen

[realbiz]

Super Heavy SpaceX

[realbiz]

! Oops here is the correct link folks

[realbiz]

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread735342/pg1 Video tour of Spacex with Elon Musk as tour director Great Info on production

[realbiz]

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread735342/pg1 One giant no three giant space bound rockets in the plans XX large

[realbiz]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406299,00.asp Video of the Merlin D in action one big gun here folks

[realbiz]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_1D#Merlin_1D Engine specs. and history here

[realbiz]

Dragon spacecraft heads toward International Space Station


Hawthorne, Calif. – Today, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to orbit for SpaceX’s second mission under its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. Falcon 9 completed its job perfectly, continuing its 100 percent success rate.

“Falcon 9 was designed to be the world’s most reliable rocket, and today’s launch validated this by adding to Falcon 9’s perfect track record with our fifth success in a row,” said Gwynne Shotwell, President of SpaceX.

After Dragon separated from Falcon 9’s second stage approximately nine minutes after launch, a minor issue with some of Dragon’s oxidation tanks was detected. Within a few hours, SpaceX engineers had identified and corrected the issue, normalizing the oxidation pressure and returning operations to normal. Dragon recomputed its ascent profile as it was designed to and is now on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) with possible arrival on Sunday, just one day past the original timeline.

Dragon is the only spacecraft in the world today capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth. Dragon will stay on station for a three-week visit, during which astronauts will unload approximately 1,200 pounds of cargo and fill the capsule with return cargo, for return to Earth. Dragon is filled with supplies for the ISS, including critical materials to support science investigations. Later this month, Dragon will return a payload that includes research results, education experiments and space station hardware.

Updates on the CRS-2 mission can be found at www.spacex.com/webcast. Broadcast quality video may be downloaded at vimeo.com/spacexlaunch and high-resolution photos are posted at spacexlaunch.zenfolio.com.

[realbiz]

FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013
2107 GMT (4:07 p.m. EST)
"Thruster pods one through four are now operating nominally. Preparing to raise orbit. All systems green," Elon Musk just tweeted.

Dragon's four pods of Draco thrusters include sets of four and five jets. Three of the pods are required to approach the space station.

Controllers want to raise the craft's orbital perigee, or low point, as soon as possible because atmospheric drag could prompt a re-entry within a day or two at such low altitudes, according to Musk.

Dragon was deployed in an orbit stretching from a low point of 123 miles to a high point of 199 miles.

[realbiz]

Great launch for the falcon 9 but the dragon capsule has thruster problems //they are trying to work things out at Spacex stay tuned for updates as the berthing with the ISS is on hold for now ....

[realbiz]

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/02/dragon-third-visit-logistics-schedule-challenges/ Dragon to resupply ISS

[Entangled Proton]

I think it's time to update ...

[realbiz]

NASA Sets Next SpaceX Dragon Mission, Invites Social Media Users

Will Select 50 Social Media Users to Attend Launch

HOUSTON, Texas — NASA and its international partners are targeting Friday, March 1, as the launch date for the next cargo resupply flight to the International Space Station by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX).

Launch is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. EST (9:10 a.m. CST) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

NASA also is inviting 50 social media users to apply for credentials for the launch. Social media users selected to attend will be given the same access as journalists. All social media accreditation applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Registration for social media accreditation is open online. International social media users without U.S. citizenship must apply for credentials by 5 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 15, to qualify. For U.S. social media, the deadline to apply is 5 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 22. For more information about NASA social media accreditation requirements and to register, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/social

SpaceX’s Dragon capsule will be filled with about 1,200 pounds of supplies for the space station crew and experiments being conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory.

On March 2, Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford and Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA will use the station’s robot arm to grapple Dragon following its rendezvous with the station. They will attach the Dragon to the Earth-facing port of the station’s Harmony module for a few weeks while astronauts unload cargo. They then will load experiment samples for return to Earth.

Dragon is scheduled to return to Earth March 25 for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California. It will be bringing back more than 2,300 pounds of experiment samples and equipment

[TEMPLETON1]

Hello All, will SpaceX be trading at some point? Thanks

[realbiz]

SpaceX to renegotiate contract for sat. launches http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1301/01orbcomm/#.UONa1azNmSo

[backtrax]

belated Merry Christmas, but also, A "Happy New Year" to you.

[backtrax]

Heinlein was always grumpy...even the post-humorous "Grumbles from the Grave" book his wife collected and authored for him.
LOL!
...It doesn't mean he wasn't Right!, lol.

[realbiz]

The Way God and Heinlein Intended

by michael belfiore

Grasshopper is SpaceX‘s reusable rocket. In a test flight last week at the company’s McGregor, TX proving grounds, the 10-story machine reached the height of a 12-story building before settling back to the launch pad on a jet of flame.

As science fiction writer Jerry Pournelle has pointed out, it’s the way God and his fellow sf writer Robert Heinlein intended rockets to land.

Doesn’t that majestic lift skyward, the gentle landing, the roar of the rocket engine get your pulse going? What’s particularly exciting to me is the lack of infrastructure around the thing. It’s just a concrete launch and landing pad. No gantries, no umbilicals, just the naked sky around it. Like an airplane taking off and landing. This scene could have been in any science fiction movie or novel of the 1940s or 1950s, except it’s real. You can just imagine a ladder or jetway (rocketway?) loading passengers at the top as the ship releases steam from its LOX tanks in the minutes before flight.

It doesn’t just look cool as hell, it also signals a potential giant leap for spaceflight. Vertical takeoff/vertical landing rockets could be the key to realizing the future envisioned in those old novels by Heinlein and others. These days, rockets heading to orbit self-destruct on the way up. Imagine throwing away a Boeing 747 every time you want to cross the Atlantic, along with the corresponding cost, and you’ll have an idea of why science fiction has remained science fiction.

But now SpaceX proposes to have each stage of its rockets fly itself back to the launch pad instead of simply hurdling itself to its doom. Back at the spaceport, the stages would be be refueled and reunited to fly again.

With such reusable vehicles, we’re looking at amortizing the cost of each trip to orbit and beyond over multiple flights instead of just the one. Heinlein would be ever so pleased. But also at least a little grumpy at how long this has taken.

[Entangled Proton]

The Grasshopper is one of the projects I've been following very closely. Bring a booster down is a little bit harder than what Blue Origan did because of it's shape. Of course Blue origin lost it's ship at mach 1.
Should SpaceX succeed it would open a fronteer for small developing companies to have access to space. Elon has stated it would drop the cost of a flight down to 10mil. A real big difference from the 1 bil flight of the shuttle into LEO.

[Entangled Proton]

Merry Xmas Everyone !!!